What Floats Rain's Boat
by quirky21
Summary: How did Rain go from pointing a gun at Anise's head to wanting to kiss her? Her perspective from SAWP. Complete collection of sideshots!
1. The Hook

A/N - Didn't you wonder what Rain was thinking when she first met Anise? I know I did... A set of sideshots to "Spice and Atmospheric Water Phenomena". This isn't designed to stand alone without reading SAWP first.

Standard disclaimers apply. I'm merely borrowing for my own guilty pleasure ... and yours' too. hahaha

-chapter 1 revised 30Aug 2012 : added detail, fixed grammar, etc.

* * *

_**The Hook**_

_baited with hazel_

The woman was crouched on the ground, staring at the barrel of her trusty SMG. A filthy, stained white uniform identified her as a lab worker even though her name badge was missing. Rain looked at the pale face with smeared eyeliner and glittery purple eyeshadow. Fear and anger was plainly visible through the mop of sweaty brown hair that curled slightly on her shoulders. A shiny silver necklace graced her throat and she wore sensible, but cute dress shoes with bright blue stitching.

Too bad she fucking reeked of blood and piss. It made Rain's nose wrinkle in disgust. Then, the woman swayed just a bit, enough for the fluorescent lights to reflect off her eyes. For a moment, Rain found herself distracted by brilliant hazel irises. Emerald and gold warred with fresh coffee in those flickering depths. Kaplan spoke and reminded Rain of the rest of the god damned world.

"Rain, what are you doing? She's a survivor."

Sneering, Rain responded. "Kap, the last survivor I encountered tried to eat me." She watched with satisfaction as the crouching woman cringed. Bitch didn't have any right having eyes gorgeous enough to confuse her like that. The woman blinked, and her eyes traveled past the gun to meet Rain's dangerous glare. She raised her arms, hands palm out, in surrender.

"I promise I won't bite." The stupid bitch had some nerve, using that mocking tone of voice. It had Rain's eyebrow moving, the only outward response she allowed. Her trigger finger itched to blow the irritating woman's head apart. Those eyes were too fucking distracting. While her disobedient brain wandered off on a tangent about eyes and souls, the woman had the balls to smile at her. It was a big ass, stupidly cheesy grin. "Unless you want me to." She winked and grinned wider, showing two rows of pearly teeth. Cute dimples formed on her cheeks.

Who the hell winks anymore? Rain silently demanded, getting flustered by those eyes again. The scar that ran from her eyebrow into her hair gave Rain something to focus on. It pulled her away from the hazel traps, standing out in stark contrast to their beauty. Rain busied her mind wondering how she had acquired such a jagged mark.

"I think I'd enjoy biting you." Damn. The Amazon was flirting with her! And Rain was having trouble not liking it a little.

Rain glared at the woman, feeling her lips twitching without her consent. She found her finger sliding off the trigger and her imagination wondering what it would be like to feel those teeth on her skin. A minute grin appeared on her face, and she snorted to clear her thoughts. Giving up on getting to kill the attractive bitch, she lowered her weapon and offered a hand. The woman gripped firmly and used the leverage to pull herself up. Standing, she was at least five inches taller, maybe six. Rain growled to herself, couldn't she catch a fucking break? The white bitch just had to tower over her.

"Bite me and I'll kick your ass." Rain promised the blood spattered woman.

"I'm sure you would," was the amused reply. Hazel eyes traveled away to study the bare control room, yet their image remained firmly planted in Rain's mind. She was such a sucker for pretty eyes. Fuck. And that irritating statement had her mind wandering to the gutter again. Mental gears creaked and stuttered as Rain scrambled for a smart rejoinder.

Luckily, the security operative spoke up. Spence, or some shit. "Who the hell are you?" Bastard was finally useful for something.

"Well, I'm either extremely lucky or just plain fucked. You?" The woman snarked.

That got Spence all wound up. "Why aren't you out there with the rest of your coworkers?"

"Why aren't you?" The woman's smartass reply had Rain's lips twitching again. She could grow to like the crazy Amazon.

Frowning angrily, the muscular man's fists curled. Rain readied herself in case he decided to attack. The fuck? She grit her teeth. Stupid pretty eyes had her going all White Knight and shit.

Spence ground out his next words, "I don't know. What's your excuse?"

The Amazon licked her lips and Rain's eyes tracked its pink movement. She spoke hesitantly. "Like I told Alice, I was proving a dare. Got hammered back in the 'dining hall'." Her fingers made air quotes. "I downed a bottle of Patrón." Rain's eyebrows lifted with surprise. "When I woke up with my hangover, I couldn't get outta that creepy place. My tablet got fried by... a freak electrical discharge. Name's Anise."

Canting her head to the side, Rain wondered at the hesitation in the story. What was the Amazon hiding? The thought occurred to her that this Anise had admitted to being in that freaky place with the cages. How the hell had she avoided the squad's search of the hall? Who was she, and would she put their lives in more danger?

Dammit, she wanted One alive to ask the questions bouncing around her skull. No one else was piping up to demand answers. Rain delayed doing it herself, because well, shit, the Amazon intimidated her. She was cute and sassy, pissed off that Spence moron, and her drinking binge story had tickled Rain's humor. Wanting to be on her good side didn't make her a bad soldier.

Kap was the one that broke the silence. Other than those not dead motherfuckers clawing at the doors. "What's in the bag?"

The Amazon plunged her hands too quickly into the bag. Both soldiers reacted instantly and had their guns back up and trained on her. Dumb bitch, Rain thought. Didn't she know better than to move too quickly around people with guns?

Anise paled, hesitantly drawing out a couple aluminum cans. "Sorry. Anyone thirsty? I have plenty."

Juice. The crazy bitch had a fridge full of juice in her stupid bag. Rain happily snagged an orange juice and plopped her ass on the desk beside the Amazon's chair. She lifted a brow at the surprised expression Anise gave her. While the pathetic little group sipped their juices, the goody two shoes started talking. Matt bitched about how Umbrella was full of bastards trying to take over the world. His sister too, they were gonna bring the multi-billion-dollar corporation to its knees with some bullshit evidence. Some idiot had promised to get it for the sister.

"Why the fuck did we find your lying ass sneaking around the mansion?" Rain interrupted.

"I lost contact with her a few days ago. I was worried, so I decided to sneak into the Hive to find her." Frustrated, he frowned as he spoke. Poor, naïve bastard. Losing family like that had to be hard. Rain was sure she would be freaking out enough to warrant a trip to the funny house. "You aren't going to shoot me for trespassing and stealing company property?"

Rain took a moment to think about it. Kinda was her job to kill him for stealing from Umbrella. A glance at Kap told her that he would follow her lead. He always had. The guy backed her up in tough situations, let her more aggressive nature do the dirty work. Couple years in the Army had proven them a good team. They'd seen some fucked up shit together. Rain didn't like seeing the little guy getting shoved around by bullies. It had gotten her and Kap into some tight situations. This was about the tightest that situations came and it was all Umbrella's fault. That answered that.

"Nah, if we make it out alive you deserve to walk away. I'll even help you blow the lid on this fucked up place." Kap ran a hand through his sweaty hair and smiled grimly at her. Yea, he'd have a hard time getting them out of trouble if she did that.

The Amazon spoke up angrily, asking how they were supposed to get out alive. She helpfully reminded them about the zombies still hungry for their flesh and that there wasn't another exit. Her outburst broke Kap's tender hold on his nerves. He started pacing restlessly, complaining about dying down in this shit hole. Asshole Spence caught on to the time limit, forcing Rain had to admit their remaining time and shockingly, Anise knew about it too. The Amazon was stupidly well informed. Racking her brain, Rain tried to match the name Anise to the employee roster she had poured over before the mission. It didn't fucking match anyone in management, none of the department heads. She wasn't anyone with a lick of importance, so how the fuck did she know so much?

Alice broke into her thoughts, announcing how the Red Queen would know a way out. She had snagged the bag with the AI's shit and was swaying her pert little butt on her way into the AI core room. Plan was to turn the homicidal bitch back on, then threaten her. Great plan. They turned the thing on and a flickery red holographic little girl appeared and scared the crap out of the Amazon. Rain chuckled as the Red Queen greeted _Ms. Barrows_ and got a frosty 'fuck you' back. The computer continued on, making a derisive comment about things not going to plan.

Rain demanded the switch so she could fry the fucking thing herself, yet the bastards around her held her back. She tried swallowing her anger and succeeded mostly. Her finger caressed her trigger guard, eager for something to shoot.

Then they learned about the scary as shit T-virus that had turned all the employees, except one Anise Barrows, into dumb as dirt, cannibalistic zombies. Only way to put the bitches down for good was a bullet in the brain, or remove the whole fucking head. Great. Just fucking fantastic. But, wait.. there's more! The voice of Billy Mays screeched in her head. She made a mental note to beat the shit out of her brothers for making her watch those late-night infomercials on her last visit home.

The best part finally came. Get bitten and you get the grand prize of immortality. The only downside: you're a fucking zombie. Her day just kept getting better. She fiddled with the gauze on her hand, feeling the bite burn and sting, and damn she felt tired. As the motley crew's attention began to focus on her and the Amazon, Rain decided to share the misery. She held up her blood soaked bandage, gesturing to the bloody mess of Anise's hand. "Joined the Royally-Fucked-Club, huh?"

The woman gave her a strange look before flipping her off and returning her gaze to her injury. Her expression was thoughtful, haunted, yet it lacked a certain fear of death by zombiefication. What the hell was with this chica? Anise glanced back up after Umbrella's Red Super Bitch gave them a map and told them how to access the sewers through the floor panels. The determination etched across her features lit up her eyes and made the gold in them glow.

Feeling heat rush to her center, Rain bit her lip. It had been far too long since her last date. She really needed to get laid. Her eyes traveled down the Amazon's curvy body and thought about what she'd look like without the ugly labcoat and shapeless, white lab clothes. She was hooked.


	2. The Line

A/N - What once was a oneshot, now a two-shot - Because xXFallenSakuraXx52 oh so delightfully asked for it. And what am I if not a sucker for my faithful readers?

-revised 30Aug 2012

* * *

_**The Line**_

_deceptively strong_

Kap was arguing with her. Again. Why couldn't the guy just let her be right? They were _sewers_. She held up her hand, fingers out to emphasize her points. "Smells like ass. Full of pipes carrying shit. Crappy lighting." Rain flicked a finger for each factor and glared at her old friend. "Sewers."

"Fine. Whatever. You wanna go first?" Gesturing, Kap pretended to be a gentleman for five seconds to let Rain climb down into the gross, freaky, dark tunnel first. Coward.

One tall, pale package of crazy beat her to it. The Amazon ignored the perfectly good ladder and dropped like a rock. She splashed onto the floor that was a good 20 feet down. How stupid could she be? Risking a broken ankle to do what, impress someone? Rain and Kap exchanged bewildered, thoroughly impressed looks. They heard Anise cough and gag as she tried to breathe the foul air down below. Rain grimaced at the idea of having to join her down there, her sense of smell was perfectly overwhelmed already.

"All clear!" Anise yelled up at them. Now who the fuck did she think she was? Rain could not help staring down at the woman confidently standing in the muck with the bloody ax slung over her shoulder. Every other minute, the bitch did something else to confuse her. First her eyes, then acting unconcerned about the T-virus, now her impressive display of agility.

What was next, she gonna do something heroic, like save her life? The Chief of Security interrupted her thoughts by brushing past and sliding down the ladder. Kap gave her a nudge. Rain bared her teeth then clambered down the ladder as well. She dropped the last few feet, her boots splashing liquid onto her black pants.

Sparing a heated glance for the Amazon who appeared alert and ready, Rain swept the area with her gun aimed high. The others followed quickly and the goody two shoes broke the uneasy quiet first. "Don't you like ladders?"

Rain looked over her shoulder curiously, just in time to catch the Amazon blushing lightly. "Didn't see it." Fucking woman, how did she miss it? Not able to help herself, Rain grinned.

Kaplan was studying the paper map in his hands. "Which way, Kap?" Asked Rain.

He frowned and pointed down the main tunnel to his right. "That way."

Unexpectedly, Anise started moving first, her ax held ready in her hands. For someone so freaking tall, she moved with feline grace. She slunk along, footfalls barely causing ripples, quietly moving through the murky water as if it wasn't there. As the others began to slosh along behind her, she jerked as though startled by the sudden noise. Damn the woman and her attractive surprises. Growling at her libido's thrumming response, Rain hurried to catch up.

She purposely let her shoulder rub Anise's as she moved by the tall woman. When Anise glanced over, she enjoyed the sight of those entrancing hazel eyes. "A soldier should be in front. Guns always trump teeth." Couldn't let the pretty civilian take lead down here, she justified. But dammit, she had _not_ meant to wink too. Fucking great.

Rain brought her MP5K's muzzle up, aiming into the shadows. Every single sound echoed freakishly and the overhead lights were complete shit. Nothing was lit well, anything could fucking pop out of the shadows. A shiver traveled along her shoulders as she imagined what was behind every creepy corner and foul smelling tunnel. Stupid motherfuckers and their damn utility tunnels. Rain checked her watch, too much time had ticked by, it didn't feel like they were getting anywhere. Matt asked how far the tunnels went.

Kap drearily replied. "They run the length of the Hive carrying water and gas in those pipes overhead. Be careful where you shoot, Rain."

Wouldn't know it to look at him, but Kap was one of the best damn shots the Army had ever trained. At least, he was when he wasn't fucking scared shitless. "I'm a better shot than you. Watch your own damn aim." It never hurt to remind the pansy.

Shaking his head, Kaplan glanced at the map again, his brow wrinkling. Dammit. That wasn't a good sign. That rusty grate sure did look familiar. She groaned.

Spence beat her to the punch. "We've been here before!" His angry yell echoed dangerously loud. Dumb bastard was gonna act like a beacon to the zombies.

"No. We haven't. We're following the map." Kap's voice was calm, yet Rain could hear the uncertainty. Dammit, Kaplan, she silently griped. Gonna get our asses eaten like this.

The bastard kept yelling at her squadmate, raising holy hell because he was scared and lost. Every word coming out of his mouth pissed Rain off more. At last, her temper broke, she struggled to keep the muzzle of her gun pointed somewhere besides Spence's head. "Enough already!" She spat into his startled face. "We don't have a choice but to keep moving. Those things are..."

Fuck! Arms sprung forth through the empty spaces of the grate, wrapping around Spence's torso. Moaning, groaning, shuffling zombies were everywhere in seconds. How the fuck had they snuck up on them? Rain opened fire on the closest. The grate came loose with a load squeak and the guys held it up like a fence, keeping it between them and the undead mob.

Butt pressed to the grate, she thrust her weight back, helping the men keep the horde at bay for a few more seconds. She used her favorite SMG to mow down zombies coming at them from the other directions. Ahead, flashes of red and white showed Alice and Anise working in tandem. An ax and bare fists were holding off another legion of infected at their end of the tunnel. Watching the Amazon's stunning prowess with her ax had Rain smiling. Anise's stance and schooled movements spoke of martial training, she was fucking fast with that ax. There was no way she was just another lab worker.

Her SMG was out of ammo, she slung it back out of the way and grabbed the pistol from her hip holster. The damsel in a labcoat had managed to get herself surrounded by infected, so Rain was obliged to sink a few rounds into their skulls. Fucking White Knight complex. It was a good thing she was an awesome aim or she might have missed those moving targets and shot Anise instead.

Then the group was climbing up onto the pipes above their heads. Rain loaded another clip into her pistol. She cleared a path for the others, making sure to be the last to go up.

JD. Her brain crashed. The bead she had on his forehead didn't do any damn good since she couldn't get her fingers to fucking squeeze the trigger. Frozen, terrified, horrifyingly unable to god damn fucking thing because JD's eyes weren't supposed to be fucking _blue_. They were supposed to be brown, his skin was supposed to be a healthy tan, and he was supposed to be dead.

Her body quivered as she willed herself to do something. Anything. JD's mouth gaped open, he was only a few feet away now. Those dead eyes had her trapped, she was going to be his next meal. His chest bumped the pistol just before his groan swept fetid breath across her face. Teeth tore into her neck and still she couldn't move a damn muscle.

CRUNCH.

JD's jaw relaxed and his body was slipping down. Her eyes followed his corpse as it slid to the gore covered ground, a bloody ax lodged in the back of his skull. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Her brain tried working again and jerked a hand to the burning injury. Vaguely, she noticed the infected had surrounded her while she had stared at JD. Forcing her eyes up took all the mental strength she had left. Rain's vision settled on the Amazon, watching her lips move, hearing her scream, and unable to do a fucking thing. Did she just kill JD? Or did she just put him to rest?

"Holster your weapon and give me your hands, Soldier!" The commanding tone and sheer strength of that voice had Rain's body moving of its own accord. Responding to conditioning the Army had put her through years ago, her arms reached up and grasped onto Anise's hands. When had the crazy bitch leaned over the edge like that? "Hold on." The Amazon demanded again.

Then her hands tightened over Rain's and the amazing woman was hauling her ass up. Rain's mind strayed again, caught in hazel eyes. They were full of their own light, gold and emerald swirled and danced on a sea of milk chocolate. The soldier felt warm drops spatter on her face, in her eyes, and mouth. Warmth flowed over her arm and shoulder. Her body burned and screamed, but it was distant, something to be ignored, she was lost in a hazel storm.

Without warning, lids closed over those entrancing eyes, thrusting Rain out, back into the mind fuck that was the Hive. She felt herself falling, for just a second, slipping out of Anise's hands. Rain blinked. Fresh hands had grips on her vest and arms. Awareness came rushing back and she felt grasping zombies clutch at her legs, boots, trying to pull her back down. With her hands free, she snatched up her pistol and began firing slugs into infected brains. The gun's report echoed off the tunnel walls while Spence and Alice dragged her sorry ass up to the pipes.

"Motherfucker," she groaned while grabbing a pipe and helping to pull herself up. Both of her rescuers sat back, chests heaving from the effort while Rain settled herself on their perch. Kap and Matt were doing the same with the addition of an exhausted Anise tangled up in their limbs. The Amazon had fucking saved her life; her own personal hero. Kap moved away from the heap, leaving Anise in Matt's lap. An irrational surge of jealousy had Rain scowling.

Anise's eyes briefly scanned their motley crew, then closed. Frowning, she wrapped her gushing palm with her other hand. "Damn." Her voice echoed Rain's thoughts.

The goody two shoes looked down at the brave, gorgeous woman in his lap. "You OK?" His voice had the quiet concern that Rain wished she'd been able to talk with.

"No." Blinking rapidly, Anise obviously struggled to open her eyes and focus on Matt's face. Anise responded, sounding half-asleep. "You?"

The lucky bastard smiled at Rain's hero. "I've had better days." That was a fucking understatement.

"Me too." Her hero's eyelids flickered and closed.

Me three, Rain silently added and snickered. At the look the goody two shoes gave her, she gave him the bird. The Amazon's faint smile caught Rain's attention. "You are one crazy bitch," she spoke softly, almost affectionately. Anise fell asleep. Lucky bitch.

Rain leaned over the edge, looking for the body of her dead squadmate. It was underneath the crowd of living dead, their feet squashing and trampling the corpse. She breathed a sigh of relief. JD was truly done this time, he wouldn't be getting his dead ass up again. Unlike Rain's hero, with her lovely breasts rising and falling rhythmically, there was no way in hell she was going to be able to sleep. So, she did what she always did when she needed to relax in a combat situation. She checked on her guns and ammo.

Reaching around for her big gun Rain noticed how soaked she was and huffed. "The fuck?" She felt like she had just taken a bath, except instead of water, she was drenched in bright red blood. Nasty. It was in her mouth too. "Ugh." She spit into the zombie crowd. The sharp taste of iron remained on her tongue, firmly reminding her of the Anise's incredible ability to shock the hell out of her. This much blood not in the body couldn't be good for her. At least Matt was putting pressure on the damsel's wrist, slowing the blood loss.

Unable to do anything else useful, she went back to her guns. The big one was empty and a thorough check of her gear yielded no more clips for it. A glance at Kap confirmed he didn't have any either. "Motherfucker." She cursed quietly and threw the useless piece of dead weight at the opposite wall. After spending several minutes bitching out the moaning horde of infected just a few feet beneath her, she pulled out her handgun and inspected it.

The magazine was empty; nothing in the chamber. It was going to need a really good cleaning when she got out. If she got out. Scratch that, she wasn't getting out, not alive. At that thought, she almost gave up. The bitter taste in her mouth and blood covering half her body kept her from it. Anise hadn't given up yet.

Crazy Amazon had even gone through the trouble of saving her infected ass. Maybe, and she allowed the tiniest little bit of hope to crawl back into her heart, just maybe the woman knew something that could save them. Feeling a little bit better, if sticky, she peeled off the vest and busied herself checking every single pocket for anything useful still left in it. After all, she had that White Knight complex and Anise was a very attractive damsel. What a line. She almost smacked herself.


	3. And Sinker

A/N -Revised 31Aug 2012

* * *

_**And Sinker**_

_like a fish, Rain sure fuckin fell for her  
_

Rain felt like shit. Not the normal 'drop off the kids at the pool' crap. No. The kind that explosively left her asshole burning with that day's spicy burrito lunch from the roach coach. Never in her life had she felt like so much used up shit. Not even that time when she had a really bad case of the flu and then got shot. Surgery to get the buckshot out of her hip, hospitalized for the blood loss and dehydration, nasty runny nose, and coughing every five seconds. She wasn't even counting the withdrawals from Morphine after she went home.

She'd take that over how incredibly miserable she was now. Her blood felt like it was on fire, her muscles like solid lead, throat like used sandpaper, and eyes like pincushions, with little stabby needles everywhere. Her guts roiled and twisted, ready to explode. The heavy metal drummer in her head beat her skull mercilessly. Every breath was an effort, she couldn't get enough air in them. Add on top of it the impending doom of turning into a zombie after she died and she could barely keep the fucking tears at bay.

The dying woman tried making light of the situation by talking about sex, but then she'd barfed all over Anise's filthy pants. Great, she was making such an awesome impression on the attractive woman. For a moment, Rain wondered if they had met as strangers in a bar, if she would have noticed the Amazon's understated beauty. It made her a little crazy thinking about it, so she gave up and instead concentrated on not vomiting again.

Feeling the Amazon's sinuous body stride confidently along, arm tucked around her waist, pissed her off. What the fuck? Ever since the pipes, she'd been watching Anise closely. Not once had she appeared any less healthy, tired, yea, but her skin retained a pink flush, unlike Rain's yellowing skin. Nothing about the woman hinted she was suffering from the T-virus. Now, she was practically carrying Rain's sick ass along.

Peeking at the Amazon's wounds reminded her of how insane everything about Anise was. Scabs had formed along the freaking _hole_ in the woman's hand, in less than an hour! And what was with the superhearing bullshit? Yea, that monkey wrench had thrown her for yet another loop. Apparently, the Amazon had ears that would make a bat fucking jealous. Rain really wanted to know about that Project Afterthought. Was it the reason why Anise didn't seem to be affected by the nasty infection that came from getting bitten? But why was she such a freak? Bitch was like Wolverine, except no claws. Just teeth.

Anise had nice teeth. They weren't a blinding, perfectly unnatural bleached white like those magazines with the airbrushed women. Her teeth were healthy, clean, and pearly. They were kept behind soft looking lips that Rain kept finding her eyes drawn to. Plump lips and mesmerizing eyes. Rain couldn't decide which feature was more stare-worthy.

The Latina had already firmly resolved to not stare at the set of breasts that would look really great in her hands. It was proving rather difficult though, what with them being so close to her face and all. After Anise threw away her bulky, stained lab coat, her curves had been suddenly visible. Rain had become all too aware of the woman's shapely assets when she'd wiped the tears from her pretty face.

Tears she had caused, slamming her against the wall and screaming about leaving behind one man. Anise had been chopping apart her friends and coworkers the entire time. Doing it to protect them. To keep them all alive. Not once had she bitched, not until she started telling Rain about Terri. Even then, it was a calm reminder of how exactly Anise understood the pain Rain felt at losing her team. The tears had come at the end, when Anise had allowed herself the luxury.

Anise was her fucking hero all over again. She didn't need a White Knight. Sweet Jesus in a midget clown car. Why did the woman have to be so confusing? The only thing that made sense anymore was that Umbrella was full of bastards, and Rain wanted to kill them all.

Rain was digressing, badly. They were already at the lab where Alice said the cure was kept. She grunted when she was lowered to the ground so the others could splash about the drenched lab.

"Where is it? I don't understand!" The tone of Alice's voice was defeated.

"What?" Even as she asked it, she knew what Alice meant. No antivirus. She was royally fucking screwed. Anise tried to catch her eye, and Rain couldn't look at her. If she did, the tears would escape. She wasn't as strong as the Amazon. Her reserves of optimism and hope were gone, all she had left was her bullshit macho attitude. Even that was crumbling quickly under the weight of knowing she'd be dead soon. Rain dropped her forehead to the railing she leaned on and bit her lip as a final effort to keep herself together.

"It's gone. It's not there." Alice went and fucked that up, repeating what they all already knew.

Rain's throat burned as she rasped out. "I can't." She choked on the horrid truth of her own words. "I just can't. It's over." Defeated, she gave up. Alice tried to console her and Rain brushed her off, glaring until the woman left her alone.

The bastard Spence turned out to be the thief. Fucking asshole. Rain managed to conjure up enough energy to be furious with the bastard and daydream about giving him an enema with her boot. It became even easier to hate him when he kicked her favorite Amazon into the wall, and her head clashed loudly on the steel barrier. If he didn't have the only fucking gun, she would have bitten him before he escaped and blew out the lock. She stared pathetically at Anise's unconscious form slumped against the wall. After Alice crouched down next to Anise and tried unsuccessfully to wake her up, Rain felt a surge of rage flood her body.

Enough adrenaline pumped through her veins to get her weak body to her feet. She snagged an abandoned fire ax, hauled it up to smash it into the glass window, and stopped. What the fuck? There were a dozen tiny holes in the glass that matched the pointy ax head. Ah hell, she wasn't the first to try that thought. Momentum lost, she dropped into a nearby task chair and waited. Whether for death or something else to happen, she didn't care anymore. Shit. She glanced at her hero. She cared if Anise woke up. The hero of the story didn't fucking die. White Knights could, but not the heroine. Rain wondered if a kiss would wake Sleeping Beauty. Without realizing it, her lips twitched up.

"Ow." Oh, sweet music to her ears. The Amazon was awake! Sounded awful and that purple bruise decorating her jaw looked awful. Hold up. Bruise, not big red goose egg? When the hell had the swelling gone done enough to fucking bruise? Rain's head hurt and not just from the infection. Anise stumbled up with Alice's help, who once again felt another wave of jealousy. Damn blonde getting to be that close to _her_ Amazon.

"Welcome back." She tried smiling as she greeted the woman. Her favorite hazel eyes inspected the room. "Her boyfriend's a real asshole, huh?"

Rain got the reaction she'd been aiming for. Anise's smile as she replied agreeably. Quickly, they got her up to date on what happened while she was sleeping. There was hope. The antivirus was on the train, if they could get past the locked doors. Anise wasn't surprised at all that a monster had gotten Spence. The damn woman knew so much more than she was letting on. A glance at her watch had Rain scowling and informing the room of their rapidly diminishing time.

The Red Queen chose that moment to make their lives worse. Yea, awesome. Kill Rain and let the others go. Super. Just fuckin... Hold up. Matt had a pretty good point. Why not demand Anise's life too? Oh, hell. The lucky bitch was immune to the God damned T-virus. Immune! No wonder the Amazon hadn't been particularly concerned about getting bitten, besides it hurting like hell. Great, well without the antivirus, Rain was screwed anyway. She hauled herself back to her feet and thrust the ax at Alice. No way was she going to ask her hero to kill her.

The monster that had eaten Spence decided to crash the party, adding just that perfect thrill of fear to really spice things up. While Rain and the homicidal AI yelled at Alice to kill her, the freaky monster was beating on the glass. Anise and Matt looked horrified, but unable to move. Rain couldn't look into those frightened hazel eyes; she knew she'd lose her nerve. Letting Anise and the others die just for the hope of being cured wasn't an option. She realized that she had to die and wanted Alice to just fucking hurry up with it.

"STOP!" That same powerful voice of authority Anise had used in the tunnels was back. It stilled every other noise in the room, even the creature outside seemed to obey the woman. Rain felt the urge to snap to attention. "Don't do it." Anise ordered in the same tone.

The Chief of Security meekly obeyed, and the ax head clunked to the floor.

"Look at her wounds. They've started to scab over. Her voice is stronger and her skin is getting color back! She's healing."

Healing? What the fuck was the Amazon going on about? She sounded perfectly sure of herself and it freaked Rain out. Rain held up her bitten hand. It still stung like a bitch, but the bleeding had stopped and it had fresh scab. Holy hairy monkey balls. She felt her jaw drop a little. Anise was right, Rain realized she felt a hell of a lot better than she had 20 minutes ago. Most notably, she could breathe easier, otherwise all the yelling she'd been doing would've been impossible. She still felt weak as a kitten, yet it wasn't the same either. Although there was still some nausea and aching muscles, it was more like a hangover than an infection. Rain felt the others' eyes on her and looked back up to Anise.

"You're right." Faltering, Alice agreed. She was just as confused as Rain felt.

"How's your vision?" Hazel eyes trapped Rain in their swirly depths for several breaths. Every little detail of her favorite irises was perfectly clear again. The fuzziness was gone too. Rain was, without a doubt, as confused as a fat kid at a salad bar.

"Better, but how?" Please let there be answers coming, Rain silently begged.

BANG. Her not-so-favorite scary Hell Beast was back at the window. Anise turned her fiery attention at the wall TV that the AI's voice came through. She yelled and demanded that the Red Bitch let them out. When it refused, she started babbling away about her blood getting into Rain's body, changing her.

They were back to Project Afterthought. Anise screamed about compatibility. Normally, Rain's mind would have sunk to the gutter, yet she was too caught up in the idea she might survive. The T-virus wouldn't kill her and turn her into a sick parody of life like it did to JD. Her eyes fixated on her hero, feeling a rush of warmth, that had nothing to do with her libido, while watching the woman argue for Rain's life.

The crazy Amazon just didn't give up. Such a turn on, Rain thought and let a smile dance at the corner of her mouth. Seeing tears pool and drop down Anise's face had Rain's heart clenching. For fuck's sake, she wanted to hold and cuddle the woman. Right then, Rain knew she was doomed. Rain Ocampo did not cuddle.

The freaky Hell Beast crashed into the lab, sending glass flying, snarling and whipping its disgustingly long tongue around their heads. Rain snorted at the foul smelling coming from it. The door opened by itself, and she was so incredibly emotional that she whimpered like a bitch at the sight of Kap's face. Anise practically carried her out of the room, and all Rain could do was revel in her warmth and strength.


	4. Damn Poacher

A/N - The last installment in this collection, it completes Rain's story in the Hive. Since everyone keeps wondering when Anise and Rain will be reunited in TFHOP, I thought that I would continue to leave ya'll hanging, and give you this instead :) Have fun!

* * *

**Damn Poacher**

_trying to take what was barely her's_

Once they were down the hall and had a few locked doors between them, their little group paused for a break. They were at the top of the stairs, looking down to the train platform.

"Anise, you want the ax? I could help Rain." Alice asked the tall woman in the grossly stained lab uniform.

Anise looked down at Rain and smiled, showing all her pearly teeth and flashing those dimples of her's. "Nah, I'd rather wrap my hands around a pretty girl than something's shaft, any day." Kaplan burst out in surprised laughter. His throaty guffaws echoed in the hallway. Annoyed, Rain flipped him off without bothering to look over her shoulder at him.

Crazy woman still had a healthy sense of humor after having spent the last few hours in Hell. Rain wondered what she'd be like under normal circumstances, at a bar with friends and with a few drinks in her. Torn between anger and amusement, Rain settled on a half-hearted glower. "Call me pretty again, and I'll deck you."

That had her squadmate laughing even louder, if that was possible. Dammit, the others had started laughing too. Rain growled to herself. If the Amazon wasn't so incredibly cute, and Rain wasn't so insanely weak, she would have jerked away from Anise's grip. Instead, she sagged tiredly, letting the woman clutch her tightly about the waist. With ease, Anise supported most of her weight as they stumbled down the stairs.

Once they were back in the train, the Amazon gently lowered her to the cold floor. Kaplan ducked into the control room while Matt stood nearby, watching the women. Rain was caught once again by the emerald and gold of Anise's eyes. They showed concern, and behind that, her awesome strength of will. For once, her libido and heart were not arguing. They both wanted the brave, gorgeous, mysterious, and slightly insane woman.

* * *

Whatever the hell Anise was trying to feed her smelled like dog food. There was no way that she would ever put that shit in her mouth. Her nose wrinkled and her stomach twisted unhappily.

The woman was kneeling in front of her with some sort of Umbrella-produced Powerbar knockoff in her hands. "Your body is trying to heal itself. It needs the calories."

That didn't mean she would put that crap in her mouth. "Fuck off. I'm not eating that shit."

"Don't make me use my 'drill sergeant voice' again." Anise glared at her with those jewels she called eyes, causing Rain to bite her lip.

The goody two shoes giggled at her. She made a mental note to shove him in a locker when she felt better. "Is that what you did back in the tunnels? How did you know that would work?" Matt asked the taller woman.

"She looked like a soldier. Umbrella's commandos are usually former military." Anise's eyes switched up to look at him, and her shoulders lifted in a shrug. "I had a few friends in college that were ex-military. They told me stories about boot camp." She refocused her gaze on Rain, put the bar against her lips, and resettled her voice into that sexy, compelling, command tone of her's. "Eat, you stubborn bitch."

Rain felt her body react immediately, muscles flexing from the Army's conditioning to obey that particular tone of voice. She once again wondered how the hell the Amazon had developed that special skill if she'd never been in the military. Gritting her teeth, she could not fucking decide if she was more pissed off or turned on that Anise used it so easily on her. Those determined hazel eyes bored into her own, stoutly refusing to back down until Rain gave in and ate the nasty smelling shit. Somehow, Rain couldn't bring herself to argue anymore and did what the Amazon said.

That shit was as foul as it smelled, and she let Anise know it. The tall woman just shrugged it off, taking a bite of the bar and smiling sweetly. A couple of flutters jumbled Rain's stomach at the sight of her pretty smile, making the commando a little light-headed. Anise finally gave a few answers about Afterthought, revealing that her crazy healing ability was a combo of her metabolism having been royally cranked and her T-virus immunity.

Both combined had turned her into fucking Wolverine. She admitted that her research team had mined her for liters of blood every week. The commando guessed it was probably for several years, judging by how well Anise had hauled Rain's sorry ass up to the pipes even as she gushed blood. Somehow, Rain managed to hide her shiver of terror at the idea of being subjected to needles every week for years.

Rain was fed another disgusting bite, and a flash of red caught her attention at the same time the Amazon's head turned toward the open door. Alice had returned to the train, just in time to see Rain being a good obedient bitch. The head of security met her eyes and grinned knowingly. Chomping into the shit in her mouth, Rain irritably flipped her off. Damn her luck, she cursed to herself while Anise's giggles joined with the annoying blonde's.

She swallowed, ready to give Alice a piece of her mind, but the moment she opened her mouth, the protein bar was already there. A full-on death glare leveled at Anise didn't even cause the tall bitch to blink. Anise's lips remained curled up into her joking smile, and her stunning eyes sparkled with mischief. Those twin orbs distracted Rain enough that she barely registered the train lurching into motion, and the discussion about administering the antivirus.

Alice picking up an injector and inspecting the sharp, evil little bastard pulled Rain from her hazel-induced daze. Fuck no. The sharp needle glinted devilishly in the unnatural light of the underground train. Rain found herself muttering about wanting to severely mutilate some Umbrella scientists and what a shame it was that they were already dead. Or undead. Whatever. She'd happily plug some bullets into...

Another piece of bar was placed to her lips and slipped past her teeth by Anise's fingers. Rain began chewing automatically, the burning feel of those pale digits against her lips completely eradicating the raunchy taste of dog food from her mouth. A needle appeared in Alice's hand, bringing the world back into sharp focus for Rain. The former head of security fiddled with the device, inserting a cartridge with brightly colored fluid into it. Adrenaline kick started Rain's breathing, and her heart picked up speed. Alice stood and moved away. Rain's breathing began to calm.

Once again, Anise placed another chunk of food to her lips. Rain found herself opening her mouth without question, relishing in the feel of soft skin grazing her lips for the second time. God, she was turning into such a submissive little twat. This time, a needle made its way into Anise's delicate hands, and she began prepping it. Rain choked down the last of the protein bar and licked her dry lips. Anise's deceptively strong hands prodded at her arm and brought the needle closer.

With a jerk, the commando averted her eyes and focused on the swaying pipes chained to the ceiling. She felt a pinch and then the freakish feeling of cold entering her veins. The feeling traveled up her arm, yet quickly dissipated. Finally, a little good luck.

"Good girl. All done."

The crazy bitch did _not_ just say that!

Anise set aside the needle, still smiling her irritating little grin, and scrounged another freaking juice from her messenger bag. Rain glared at her, clenching her jaw and wishing she could hit something. Or fuck someone. "Can you hold this yourself? Or do I need to help you with this too?"

Baring her teeth, Rain swiped the bottle from the woman that both annoyed the hell out of her and turned her on at the same time. After a few healthy swallows, she sighed happily and closed her eyes. She hadn't realized what a nasty taste she had in the back of her mouth until she took a gulp of orange juice. The OJ washed away the foul grittiness of the protein bar and overpowered the rotten flavor of infection too. Its acidic burn in her mouth had Rain thinking about her family. She wondered what they would think if Rain brought Anise home. "Orange juice makes everything better."

"The great and mighty Rain has admitted to liking something?"

Snorting, Rain felt a true smile bloom on her face. The Amazon didn't have a freakin clue. She ran her sight over the woman, taking in her overly pale features and the freakishly fast healing wounds. "Here. You should drink the rest."

Anise's eyes went wide, and she started to shake her head.

Rain rolled her eyes and pushed the bottle into her hands, curling long fingers around the tasty beverage. "Drink. You've lost a lot of blood too." Eyeing the pretty brunette as she drank the OJ, Rain wondered what Anise would think of her given name.

Christ! The commando mentally slapped herself. She'd never thought about bringing a chick home before, let alone allowing one to use her birth name. Rain couldn't believe the thoughts running through her mind. She hadn't even kissed the woman yet. Damn, but she wanted to kiss her. Her eyes drifted down to the pale woman's slightly chapped lips and back up to those entrancing eyes.

Without truly thinking about what she was doing, Rain was leaning forward. Anise sat perfectly still, and her gorgeous eyes were fixed on Rain's own dull brown. Their lips met so very nicely. Rain didn't force the kiss, merely pressed their lips together. Even so, she felt sweet little tingles zoom down her spine. Heart racing and feeling stupidly nervous, she sat back to see how the Amazon reacted.

Obviously, Rain's sudden display of affection had taken her by surprise, because Anise blankly stared at her for quite some time. Her cute little dimples made their appearance when the Amazon's face finally unfroze and melted into a sexy smile. "Yum."

Rain felt like jumping up and down like an idiot. Yodeling to the world that the crazy Amazon liked the way she tasted was a good idea too. She settled for lounging back and looking like a smug badass. Watching Anise's face settled something in Rain's mind. She really liked being able to make the other woman smile.

Matt coughed overly loud to catch their attention. His soft face held a cheap little grin of its own. Being in a good mood and all, Rain allowed the guy to keep his face in its current arrangement. "Enjoy the show?" She teased him.

"Well..." He started to answer.

But, as usual, some fucked up creation of Umbrella just had to go and ruin their little bubble of sunshine and bunnies. When massive talons ripped into the metal side of the train and tore into Matt's upper arm, causing Anise to protectively jerk them away from the wall, Rain swore that some profit-driven heads would fucking _roll_ after she escaped the Hive.

* * *

Damn it all! She had just fucking found a woman that could actually keep up with her. Anise was athletic, devious, beautiful, and had the most gorgeous eyes. The crazy bitch had been running for her life from her undead coworkers, had Rain's gun in her face, had been consistently scared out of her mind, and yet, she still had the balls to flirt with her! Anise also had a fucking hilarious sense of humor and an amazing inner strength that Rain was incredibly awed by.

Top it off with the fact that Rain had only gotten to kiss her once, couldn't wait to do it again, and Rain was more than ready to fight for her. There was no way, in this life or the next, that she was going to let some ugly ass monster take the crazy tall chick away from her now! The fucker was using Anise as a brace to keep itself from falling through the floor access hatch they had opened beneath it. That was all sorts of unacceptable in Rain's book. With Anise's pain-wracked screams pounding into her skull, Rain hauled the pipe above her head and slammed it into the mutant's tongue.

"You can't have her!" She bellowed as she hammered away at the monster.

The power that Rain was able to put into the fight amazed her. After all, she'd been at Death's scary ass door less than an hour ago. Weak as a stuffed teddy bear and almost crazy with pain only started to described how she'd felt. Whatever was in Anise's blood was way better than any energy drink. Gritting her teeth, she put those thoughts aside and kept up her swings at the ugly motherfucker. With brutal pleasure, she pummeled the grotesque tongue until it was swollen and bleeding, and the creature finally let _her_ Amazon go. Its rear end burst into flame on contact with the electrified train tracks. The monster's huge claws dug into the steel floor, trying to pull itself back into the cargo area.

Finally, the goody two shoes really proved to be useful by pounding those clawed arms with a pipe of his own. Rain gratefully took a second to catch her breath before joining his efforts. When they had succeeded in demolishing both paws, and the chilling mutant was dangling by its tongue, Kap punched the button to close the hatch. The doors easily clipped through the fleshy appendage, and the monster disappeared in a screaming ball of flame. Good fucking riddance.

Exhausted, Rain dropped the heavy iron pipe and flopped to her knees beside her favorite hero. The woman's too quickly spreading blood soaked Rain's pants, covering her in even more of Anise's crimson essence. Rain doubted even the strong Amazon could stand to lose much more blood. She placed bloody fingers to Anise's neck, feeling for her pulse. It was weak and fluttery. Biting her lip was the only thing she could do to keep herself from crying at the sight of her hero looking like a bloody corpse.

All too aware of the others' concern and worried gazes, Rain kept her burning eyes on Anise and stroked her pale cheek, willing the other woman to hang on. She felt the train begin to slow. Rain looked up from her study of her hero's too-pale face and met Kap's regard. He nodded at her grimly. The guy could probably read her mind, he knew her so well. Nodding back, she felt minutely better, knowing that her squadmate would have her back and do anything he could to help save Rain's newest obsession.

* * *

Picking up Anise was something she did without thinking. At Matt's wide-eyed stare, she did become abruptly aware of how easily she had done it. Despite keeping herself in great shape with lots of exercise and training, carrying a woman as tall as Anise should have been harder. It should have been almost impossible, what with Rain still being weak from infection and injuries. The man tried to say he would carry Anise. No fucking way. "We don't have time to argue. I got her."

Matt opened his mouth.

Angry that he would waste the precious time that Anise probably didn't have, Rain snapped. "Move!"

As soon as the door was opened to the next platform, and the train slowed enough to, Rain hopped out with her burden. The blast doors were already starting to drop down. Clenching her jaw, Rain increased her walk to a jog, determined to see Anise to the surface and safety.

She soon fell behind her companions as they made their way up the stairs. Even the gimping Kap outpaced her. Not that three steps ahead was much. Still, Kap outpacing her was damned pathetic. Her breaths came in heavy puffs as they entered the elevator. Gratefully, Rain leaned back against the wall and looked down to her hero's bloodstained face. She cradled the woman close to her, with Anise's head resting on her chest. The Amazon's likeness to a corpse was beyond disconcerting.

Alice reached over and tested the bleeding woman's pulse. "She's still alive. Amazing."

"Woman's a raging freak." Rain muttered, relief flashing through her. The damn Amazon was a pinnacle of strength, and Rain had never wanted anyone more in her life. The elevator stopped and they charged through the hall full of shattered glass, where the squad had entered the Mansion so long ago. One, JD... Rain angrily bit her lip to be rid of those thoughts. Once she saved Anise, then she could wallow in grief, or plan sweet revenge on Umbrella. "Gotta get her to a hospital, or even her mutant powers won't keep her breathing."

Matt's face pulled into a silly grin. "Mutant powers? You a closet sci-fi nerd?"

Rain growled and resettled Anise's weight. "When we get outta here, I'm going to rearrange your face."

The guy started to reply, but pain twisted his features and he clutched at his wounded arm.

"Matt?" Alice's eyes lit up in concern, and she reached toward him. Her fingers stalled a few inches from him when little _things_ squirmed underneath his skin.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. What the hell is that?" Kap squawked.

Fear plainly written across his face, Matt fell to his knees, groaning and staring at his arm.

Without any further words, Alice opened the case with the antivirus and prepped a needle. Rain looked away, and into Kap's equally frightened face. Her squadmate nodded at her and spoke to Alice. "We can't wait for you two. The woman needs surgery."

The blonde nodded absently, so Rain started moving to the door again. Kap hobbled ahead of her, and just as he reached out to grab the door handle, the giant wooden door flew inward. Bright white light and assholes in white hazard suits streamed in. Why couldn't anything be fucking simple anymore? Rain fought like hell to keep Anise from being taken. It was pointless and painful for all involved, especially that guy whose knee she shattered with a well-placed kick. And that other idiot that earned several broken ribs. And that guy that she... Rain lost count of how many broken bones and ripped ligaments she dolled out.

More and more white suited bastards poured into the Mansion. For every one that Rain or Alice or even gimpy Kap took out, three more took their place. The last thing Rain really knew was that she was screaming the Amazon's name as the tall woman was strapped to a gurney. Something pricked the commando in the neck, and she flopped to the floor like a dead fish.


End file.
